Hidden Below the Surface

Now in its fourth year, the fish count is a one-day event each summer during which naturalists at multiple sites along the Hudson catch fish to show visitors the variety of fascinating creatures usually hidden below the river’s surface. This year 17 sites, from Saratoga to Brooklyn, were sampled.

More than 200 fish species call the Hudson estuary and its watershed home, and over the past three years, volunteers have recorded at least 37 of them during the count.

This year at the Brooklyn site, volunteers took the seine nets out a handful of times. They counted, identified, and documented everything pulled in, and then returned all the creatures to the river. At the end of the event, the tally included hundreds of Atlantic silversides, plus striped bass, bluefish, porgy, a lady crab and a blue crab, comb jellies, and even a lined seahorse!

According to Stanne, this year’s fish count netted a total of 33 species across all sites, “the highest number recorded on any of the four Great Hudson River Estuary Fish Counts to date.” Two of the species found in Brooklyn—the porgy and the lined seahorse—were new to the count list completely.

Photos from the Great Hudson River Estuary Fish Count

The DEC’s Steve Stanne and a volunteer take the seine net out into the Hudson. Photo credit: Emily Manley / NYER.Clearwater’s Key to Common Hudson River Fishes: our guide for the afternoon. Photo credit: Emily Manley/NYER.Pulling the seine net on shore. Photo credit: Emily Manley / NYER.Catch, count, identify, release! Photo credit: Emily Manley / NYERThe first seining net pulled in nearly a hundred Atlantic silversides. Photo credit: Emily Manley / NYER.Close-up of an Atlantic silverside. Photo credit: Emily Manley/NYER.Our first mystery fish of the day turns out to be a scup, otherwise known as a porgy. Photo credit: Emily Manley/NYERA male ladycrab (yep, that’s right) also found its way into our net. Photo credit: Emily Manley/NYERSteve Stanne and volunteers take the net out again, this time with help from a curious onlooker. Photo credit: Emily Manley/NYERWhat did we find this time? Photo credit: Emily Manley/NYERA striped bass! Photo credit: Emily Manley/NYERA striped bass and bluefish, held up for closer inspection. Photo credit: Emily Manley/NYER.The one we’ve all been waiting for: a lined seahorse! Photo credit: NYSDEC